determined to make a plunge into the morass of untruthfulness, for a
good end as she believed, added, "and, if I had love at my disposal, I
should possibly venture to make advances toward the feathery peach [a
nuptial emblem]; but let me confess to you that I have already taken
to myself a wife. Had I the felicity of meeting Miss King before I
committed myself in another direction, I might perhaps have been a
happier man. But, after all, if this were so, my position is no worse
than that of most other married men, for I never met one who was not
occasionally inclined to cry, like the boys at 'toss cash,' 'Hark back
and try again.'"

"This will be sad news for my lady, for she has set her heart upon you
ever since you first came to the inn; and when young misses take that
sort of fancy and lose the objects of their love, they are as bad as
children when forbidden their sugar-plums. But what's the use of talking
to you about a young lady's feelings!" said the woman, with a vexed toss
of her head; "I never knew a man who understood a woman yet."

"I am extremely sorry for Miss King," said Jasmine, trying to suppress a
smile. "As you wisely remark, a young lady is a sealed book to me, but
I have always been told that their fancies are as variable as the shadow
of the bamboo; and probably, therefore, though Miss King's sky may
be overcast just now, the gloom will only make her enjoy to-morrow's
sunshine all the more."

The woman, who was evidently in a hurry to convey the news to her
mistress, returned no answer to this last sally, but, with curtailed
obeisance, took her departure.

Her non-appearance the next morning confirmed Jasmine in the belief